No Snakes in Ireland
by littleellie30
Summary: First person POV.  An unlikely friendship for Aileen Jones means that her life is not as conventional as it could be especially if your friend is one Daniel Jackson. First time doing this.  Feedback needed please. On a break due to work commitments-sorry!
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Basing this in Northern Ireland and some of Donegal as that is where I am from. Don't want to insult my fellow Southerners by writing about areas of the beautiful south I have never been to before. If I use slang I'll keep updating the glossary. I've often wondered how Sam got called so often on her mobile by random people. I mean how did they get her number? How did they know where Jack lived? How did they battle the trust so often without leaving the SGC so often, etc. All these burning questions, and one unique POV.**

**No Snakes In Ireland**

Glossary – necessary knowledge of an Ulster sense of slang. (We've got ton's of it and then some!)

Backstreet Millie: A 'Millie' is defined as a working class person who would be dismissed as being quite common in their manners. Belfast had a lot of small streets back in the days of the Mills in Victorian Times. So to be described as a Backstreet Millie means that you are common. A lot of my older friends use it when they are talking in jest about gossiping and giving your own opinions about general daily things.

Catch yerself on – wise up! Scundered - embarrassed

What's the craic? – what's up? what's happening? Skitter – misbehaving child/adult

What's the bars/tell me the bars – asking about gossip Kinks – bent double (often with laughter)

Slapper –Tramp/S***(insert expletive here) Hidin'- getting beaten up

Craic – tends to cover a multitude of sins i.e. fun, story, you get the jist in context.

Pants – Not from NI but to say that we talk about Pants for **underwear**. To say pants is a polite way of say S***. It's basically because there are only so many times you can say a cuss word before it gets boring.

"More power to ye" – well done, that's interesting

**Prologue – the Present**

"An ciorcal ársa gur shuigh sé ar an dumha Thit na nathracha dúirt go raibh teacht go tríd i bhfoirm daonna. Tá scéal inis de fada roimh agus le troid a thagann amach anseo. Luíonn A banphrionsa agus Codlaíonn i gloine a bheidh tar éis in Éirinn le nathracha a ardú arís eile ar an oileán".

I looked at the writing on the sheet of old paper. Blinked and looked again. This was not what I thought it would be. Okay I don't speak Gaelic but I'm computer savvy enough to type it into the translation programme on my laptop and figure it out. So maybe it was time to look at the English again because the Irish was starting to sound scarily like something I'd heard about. A common legend stating that there were no snakes in Ireland. I lifted my head from my overcrowded and unnecessarily untidy desk in the museum offices. Organisation never really was my strong suit. I mean who has time to organise in an office really? You're lucky to get 10 minutes to type up your reports. What am I up to? I was trying to see if my boss was here or hiding next to the coffee pot for the next few minutes. Relief! She's havin' a cuppa coffee. Ah good the good old coffee pot. Working in this museum means that all the staff work their arses off but Belfast being Belfast there has to be time to allow for a few Backstreet Millie moments around a cuppa. I looked at the translation again on Google. Okay so it was older irish but there has to be some derivation in the newer dialect doesn't there? I mean at least that's what my friend Daniel tells me when I speak to him. Ad nauseam.

"_The ancient circle that sat on the mound that fell told of snakes that had come through in human form. A story told of long before and of a fight that future come. A princess rests and sleeps in glass will wake in Ireland to once again raise snakes on the island_". I raised my eyebrows and shook my head. That in my books was impossible but here it was in plain black and white on her laptop screen. I heard the chatter come to an end as the silence from the kitchenette seem to peter off. I decided that this was not a one women job and I thought to email it to an old friend – one with a bit of pull and a lot of interest in the mummy sitting downstairs in the soon to be reopened exhibit. It sometimes was worth working two jobs I thought. It's just I never thought the second one would ever be useful to anyone but it was. Once, a long time ago I'd met a man once who helped me out of sheer kindness and now I am part of a network of his eyes and ears.

**Chapter 1 How Aileen Jones met Doctor Jackson – the past**

Okay so here's the story. If you were to say the name Doctor Daniel Jackson in academic circles of archaeology at best you would get someone in kinks laughing. However, mention the same name in military circles at best you would get connections at worst you'd get a visit from some strange people from MI6. Since I'm Aileen Jones, I hadn't to worry about that either. Why? Cos I have a long standing relationship with the good doctor that came from a cross community trip to Chicago. Ya know I'm not exactly buddy buddy with the guy but I am friends with him. My friendship with the good doctor began when he was working at a university there. I was out one night at a bar with the cross community project workers and the group for one of the American teens that was having her birthday there. Of course part of the group that came with me was from my adorable comprehensive high school and being the fat girl I was often the target for the bullies. Of course these were the same bullies who got onto the trip to the windy city. They'd made the night hell for me and I ran out of the bar and I didn't stop running for the two whole blocks. Right smack bang into a rather tall and weedy man out for a walk with a book under his arm. I'd slammed straight into him on a dark street where the shops seemed to have closed for the night and only a few people seemed to be walking by them.

"Oh um hi?" the man looked at me. To be fair I was scared upset and confused and at 16 I wasn't exactly miss 'good looks' either more like 'Never Been Kissed' the high school version. Brown short bobbed hair, grey eyes, psoriasis, just slightly more than overweight and at a healthy 5 foot 8 inches I was awkward in appearance. This rather awkward yet cute looking guy with the most gorgeous blue eyes, long fringe, tall and slightly lanky height intimidated me slightly. I sniffed and rubbed the tears away from my eyes trying to cover up my tears. Never want them to see me cry. The man studied me closely.

"Um, I think you are supposed to say hello back but from the way you are rubbing your eyes I'd say I'll forgive you for that one." He smiled gently and I accepted the tissue he dug out of your pocket and blew my nose.

"Thanks mate! I'm while sorry for slamming into ye like that!"

The man smiled again. "So I take it you are not from around here then?" I hiccupped with tears and giggled softly.

"Not from around here, no. Not exactly. Gee, not that it's obvious or anything. Please for heaven's sake don't tell me that I'm Irish and that's quaint. I've been getting that ever since I arrived here especially from a lot of women and it's getting old! I'm Aileen Jones but my real friends call me either AJ or Ali and for the tissue can you call me Ali?"

The man broadened his grin. I could tell he could see something of my spunk hiding behind the tears I was trying not to let fall.

"Daniel Jackson but please, call me Daniel and I'm guessing you're from the North of Ireland Ali." I grinned. Ostensibly I'm proud of where I had come from, well, maybe not all of its history, but I was proud of the side of Northern Ireland that few people recognised including the accents. My grey t-shirt had a Celtic cross on it. We'd all been stuck with the fashion choice when they were out as a group much to many of the groups disgust including Aileen's. Grey was definitely not my first choice in colour.

"Ah Danny boy, so how wouldja know that? Hmm?" My eye's flicked to the t-shirt that said Crossing Borders. The T-shirt kind of pointed to the obvious. Daniel smiled shyly.

"I'm working at the university in the archaeology department. I know something about languages." Daniel slid a finger along his nose up to straighten his penny round glasses and he shifted his feet. I was shocked that he bothered to recognise where I was from but nodded sagely as if this was nothing new and I just quietly said "more power to ye." Daniel smirked at that saying. It was clear that it wasn't one he'd heard of before. He looked at me the gawky teenager in front of him in the dark street in the middle of Chicago and I think he realised at this point that this girl was runnin' about minus an adult. I think that at this point he decided then to ask the innumerable question that any adult who'd caught a lost child and asked a question any adult would ask of a teenager.

"So why were you running by yourself in the middle of a strange city?" He gave me his best lecturer stare. I caught it and ducked my head.

"The craic of it is that I have had a pants night. That's the knickers kind not the trouser kind! The trip that I came on has turned into a nightmare because the guys have decided it would be a laugh to tease me about my psoriasis. They kept saying that I should be separated from the rest of the group because I of my psoriasis." I laughed bitterly and continued.

"Scabby shouldn't be let near a bar and bring the cool factor down and I still have 3 weeks of this trip left and I would rather go home right now. What's worse was that the girl whose birthday party I was at agrees with them and deemed me unfit for her party."

The sobs began again. I got about 3 metres outside the pub door when the tears began and had managed to gasp them back into submission before bumping into Daniel. I really hadn't wanted to cry especially in front of a rather cute stranger who happened to be kind. Daniel took my hand and squeezed. I shook my head as if to clear it. I really hated being seen crying. It was like letting the world know you couldn't handle what it threw at you. Weakness!

Suddenly my head whipped around as I heard my name and saw a trio of the teens from the bar walking over to me. I sighed and shuddered with fear and I felt rather than saw Daniel glance at me. The birthday girl was flanked by two boys. They raked their eyes up and down me in disgust. The girl, Pippa Spence who was the ringleader of the group had a thick build cropped blond hair and a pair of finely rimmed square glasses which covered her brown eyes that glared at Aileen in barely contained disgust. She ignored Daniel and opened her scathing flabby gob.

"Scabby, do you know you've wrecked my birthday. The counsellors are ready to call the cops on you because of your disappearing act."

My head whipped up in defiance and my grey eyes clouded in a lot of barely contained fear and some determination. Again my body shook slightly. I felt Daniel's hand on my shoulder and I relaxed into it. Somehow Daniel's presence seemed to make me feel bold and for a moment I felt I could, for once, say what I always meant to say to a person. Usually the words came long after something happened but not tonight.

"Pippa, catch yerself on! You've made my night a misery because I have a skin condition which I can't control. You've teased me, berated me and made fun of everything I've said. By the way in case you've forgotten my name is Aileen and you've ruined my night." I could feel the words crack as I said them and felt more fear at the mob in front of me.

Again I could feel Daniel watched this exchange with caution. He was not exactly invited to this cat fight but there seemed to be some understand some of my predicament. I was an outsider from the looks of the fight and I could see in his eyes he felt that he could relate. Pippa looked at me with evident fury on her face. "Ruined your night? Oh boo hoo! Scabby, did you forget whose birthday it is and who the party is for? I didn't have to invite you but I did." The venom in her words was evident there and then.

"I'm surprised that you bothered at all judging from the way you've treated to me. I just came to enjoy the party. You came to enjoy the smack down on the nearest victim you could see." I hotly spat back. Pippa fumed at that and I could see in her expression that she felt that she wanted blood spilt because for once she'd been humiliated at _her_ party and as a popular kid I'm quite sure that didn't happen often. Pippa balled her hand into a fist and took a swing at me who'd covered my face only to be stopped by Daniel who must have grabbed her arm. This time it was noticeable that he was going to intervene. I was grateful to him for speaking at this point.

"Anywho, I think I'd better get you and this group back to your counsellors. I think I want a word with them and I think now would be a great time for me to take a walk over to that party of yours. Whatcha think Ali? Fancy some company?" I smiled shyly. My head was definitely turned by this knight in shining armour.

"If you don't mind a scundered wee lassie no. I'd be glad of it." Whilst they were walking back to the bar, I realised that there'd be a call home to her parents about this and that scared me. My father was a decent man but his temper was fierce when I was getting into trouble. I knew I'd be getting a long distance earful for this I was sure. I turned my head and leaned in and whispered to Daniel. "If I forget later, thanks Daniel. I'm kinda glad to have met you." That's how it started. He'd left me his card so that I could send him a letter to let him know that I was okay and I'd written one and posted it to him before I left the States. It was one of those one time meetings that ended up being a random act of kindness.

Two months after that a rather disastrous lecture was given by one Doctor Daniel Jackson to his peers and he was laughed out of academia and brought into the Stargate programme. I grew up but I never forgot that meeting.

A few years after that….

I remembered applying for this job that had me so quietly filling in paperwork now for my latest mystery that I'll be sending to Daniel. I needed to work now that I'd finished a degree in Heritage Management at one of the Yorkshire Universities. I saw this job, which have now, a few years ago in the Belfast Telegraph for a Jackson Foundation asking for administrators or archaeologists to look out for certain pieces of information. I had been one of the few hundred to be selected for it as Northern Irish entries were thin on the ground. It was only on my interview in London did I realise who my boss would be and even then I nearly didn't recognise him. He was on the interviewing panel on one of those rare months when SG-1 was having a quiet month although I didn't even know what that was for quite some time. They'd just got over what Daniel would later tell was the Osiris incident in Chicago and they needed eyes and ears to prevent it happening again. However at the interview I was told that it was research for a private foundation that worked independently. I'd walked into the room for the interview. I was really nervous like I wanted to puke my lunch that I had just managed to afford considering London is so expensive.

During my time in university I had specialised in the history behind things and how to control damage to those specifically sensitive to cultural and heritage areas. Not a typical person to hire for the kind of archaeological job they were thinking of but I know but I put my case forward stating that people who worked in heritage often had to know their pieces in order to tell those who visited museums what they were. One of my hobbies at home had become spending time reading up on items in the hopes that I could work well in one of the local museums and that they administrative/tour staff were often getting their eyes near artefacts long before the public saw them. They had to know the museum inside and out. Who better to do the job that they were asking I argued and they pressed me on many points and I had responded in kind on many of the tests and questions they had had. In the end I realised I hadn't a prayer but I was glad to have tried.

I looked over at the good Doctor. He had so changed since I last saw him. He looked less of a geek and more – I don't know, like he had seen so much including horror beyond description. I knew the look. I had seen it in some of the old war veterans I met in the churches on Remembrance Sunday in November. You know the day to honour the soldiers of all the wars. My reason is my two grandfathers and my great grandfather. My great grandfather died at Ypres and the other two were Home Guard or as my old friend Harry liked to call it **L**ook, **D**uck, **V**anish (**L**ocal **D**efence **V**olunteers or later known as the Home Guard). Like the horror didn't entirely wash away. I wished them all the best at the end of the interview. For me that's a standard practice in my everyday life. Just because you may never meet someone again doesn't mean you do not want the best for them. I got up from my seat and was walking out only to find to my great delight that I was being walked out by Daniel himself from the conference room of the hotel. I stopped and turned to look at him.

"Can I just say Danny boy, it was nice to see you again." My words were full of delight at seeing him. Daniel raised his head up sharply. Again I learned later, much later, that no one called him Danny except Jack.

"Excuse me? What did you call me?" His voice had risen slightly and suspicion crossed his features. I smiled apologetically. Somehow I knew he wouldn't remember. My dad (Bless him and rest in peace) used to say he couldn't remember half the people he met when he was a salesman. I noticed in that awkward moment that he was still cute from when I'd last seen him now with short hair and in the time from when I had last seen him but it was obvious that was he now spent time working out. To me he was 'buff' (very hard not to notice that! You would have to be blind not to notice this guy) but he still had maintained that kind of awkwardness I noticed the first time we'd met.

I caught my breath and thought 'Uh oh! I'd just my chance blown my chances at this job outta the water!' I took another breath and looked up at him and I saw his face was slightly annoyed. I knew I had to talk fast and tell the whole truth.

I sucked in a breath before rambling. "Sorry mate. You just reminded me of someone who was kind to me once. My mistake! He just rescued me from a hidin' from a trio at a screwed up invitation to a birthday party in Chicago by a rather nasty chicky. Anyway, see you Doctor. Thanks for the interview." I smiled nervously after speaking and walked away from the hotel conference room never looking back. Yet I could feel a pair of eyes boring into me the whole way out of the hotel, I swear some days I still can. It's the effect of seven years of bullying and I felt like I had been lucky. I got to meet my hero again - the guy who was kind for no reason for one moment in time when I needed it.

Two months later I got a call but it wasn't what I thought it would be. I'd been offered a job in the Ulster Museum in Belfast that I'd applied for and I took it. Not everyone's dream job granted but it helps pay the bills plus free history to work around! WOOOHOO! After my first year there working in the museum guides section I received a call from the Jackson Foundation. There was a spot for an administrator and would I be interested.

"Interested? Are ye nuts? Course I'll take it!" my tone was full of delight over the phone. The woman I spoke to advised me that I would have to go through some stages such as a police check, health evaluation and so on but I took all in my stride. What I didn't know then was that my stride had just changed from normal world to crazy world and so had my perspective on the universe.

Over the course of my work I slowly got to know the man through various emails and webcam updates as the years went on. I never told anyone about my other job at work and I always looked forward to delivering my reports to the guy. I had access to information about certain events and artefacts that passed through Queens University's archaeological department and the Museum itself that were not readily available to the foundation at hand and as such my skills set changed just enough for me to develop my skills in the museum and I managed to change departments as the years went on. Over the course of the late night reports and emails we began to develop a good friendly relationship but we never spoke again about how we met. Some days I often wondered if the guy ever remembered – somehow I doubted it. Someday, I promised myself I'd bring him over to Northern Ireland and I'd find a way to thank the good Doctor for that one act of kindness. After all a girl can hope.

**Disclaimer: I do not own nor do I wish to own Queens University, the Ulster Museum, Belfast Telegraph or anything else I may later mention regarding Northern Ireland or its culture. They are there simply to tell the story not to make any money. Any references to people are coincidental and any places are simply there to act as a reference point for others who have not been to Northern Ireland. I hope you enjoy this!**


	2. Chapter 2

Glossary

Sarky – sarcastic Gawpin' – to stare at something

Chapter 2

September 2006

I think the first time I noticed him was when he was standing inside the Egyptian section of the museum. His hand was almost lovingly caressing the glass case. This was a) just plain creepy and B) almost loving in his touch which wasn't exactly normal in anyone's case. This guy caught my attention as soon as I passed him on the first day and every visit after that. The fact that he was in the museum every day for a week was just plain strange. I mean we're not charging people to come in here but it's not like people make a point of visiting here every single day! We have our regulars but this guy? Something just set off my own psychic senses! Ya know female creepology alarm bells! Those ones you get when a guy tries to chat you up in a bar and it's just so wrong! So this was definitely worth checking out – even just to find out what the heck is going on. Hmmm – skitter alert? Possibly? I digress and get ahead of myself. We'll come back to him later.

Now in general, most people including myself are morbidly fascinated by the mummy in our collection. She lies there in her open casket face contorted as if she was having a nightmare. Let's see – I'm getting ahead of myself here I need to explain who she, yes it's a girl, is. Our mummy is the daughter (ha that's Irish!) of the temple priest of Amun in Ancient Egypt and her name is Princess Takabuti. Her sarcophagus is daintily covered in a very feminine Egyptian script of hieroglyphs and she is rumoured to be from the 7th century BC. I suspect though that she is much older than that but I don't have the knowledge or skills to figure that one out. She has been wrapped in a white dress with a blue mesh shoal around her shoulders. Every day as I pass through the red room where her body lies I see many people – children and adults alike – simply stare at her as if she held the very secrets of death itself. They opened her sarcophagus to a crowd here in Belfast during the Victorian age.

That age led to me being wary of her every time I pass through the room on the way to the office as she lies in state with her eyes open and face shrivelled and black. However, the museum is due to close for a refit soon and I am hoping to be assigned to the team who will look into her secrets. I'm working on a way that will give Daniel a means of being on that team in case any snakes show up for it. Hey! Even archaeology generates a staggering amount of paperwork! Who gets to do it? Little office grunts like me – wahey! Well someone has to order things and keep a track of the money and so forth! I'm digressing a bit but like all good stories I'll get back to him.

See I know about the Stargate and its importance and I've been informing them of little sightings of information that tends to creep out onto the online community as well as looking out for objects that may slip through the net normally. However I found out about the programme ye can bet it wasnae from nowhere. It happened the year Daniel went missing….

**The past – around 2002**

"Hello? Hello?" My video call had connected of that much I was sure and I had to be sure of the technology. Video calling had just come on as the 'new thing' for me and this was a scheduled check into Daniel. It was too expensive to continually hop a flight from Belfast to London, London to the US and back again and Dublin airport was less appealing depending on the cost to get either way. A face came to the computer and it was definitely NOT Daniel. "Who are you chick cos you sure ain't one Doctor Jackson?" The face was finer, slim and extremely cute. Would have taken him to meet me ma if I could have gotten away with it! "I'm Jonas Quinn. Who are you and why are you on this computer?" His demeanour was cautious but friendly. "I'm Aileen Jones and I'm supposed to be talking to Daniel about something very important. Something has turned up here he needs to know about." Jonas's face fell. "Hang on I need to get Colonel O'Neill in here." My face screwed up in confusion. It was only then I realised that Jonas had been wearing a uniform and it was a military one too. 'Colonel? Huh?' My head spun with possibilities.

See, as much as I am not entirely pleased about the way 'the troubles' colour peoples perspectives of my little home country, I grew up seeing soldiers and police. I know fatigues and uniforms when I see them. This had me wondering what Daniel was into and how I always saw him in the same black t-shirt and green jacket. Somedays, though rarely, there would even be a denim shirt on him and a bright background but never did I really remember fatigues. I missed the jacket and the patches that seemed to swing into view when Jonas turned to run out of wherever he was. It seemed like an age that I was staring at what seemed to be an odd office with books and all sorts of museum ephemera that seemed to be on the far wall that the camera was staring at.

One question seemed to float to my mind. Who was Daniel Jackson? I mean I'd talked to him on certain dates at very specific times but I had never really asked him about his work really. Our conversations centred on what I'd found for him and if the sun shone in our respective parts of the world or out of certain political asses. We really spoke of nothing consequential or even highly relevant outside of anything else that I reported to him from the network. Even then they were short and sometimes comical conversations. I barely knew the guy except for his knight in shining armour routine in Chicago but I liked him. Even then it was sort of getting your head turned one way and then looking back at him as a friend. That would never change not in any way.

"Hello?" the word snapped me out of my thoughts. My screen filled with a stern faced man in blue fatigues. His intense brown eyes were almost making an evaluation of me and my surroundings. "Would you mind telling me miss how you managed to call a top secret base in the middle of the United States? I am guessing that you are not American according to my friend Jonas."

I was gonna go for serious but I was tired and when I'm tired I get sarky in my behaviour so my temper was short. It was 11 o'clock in the evening here and who knows what time in the afternoon it was in the States. I barely knew where in the States I was calling. "Well I was going for a collect call but the dialling plan I signed up threw in top secret military facilities as part of the bonus plan." The man made a face. It seemed to be a cross between 'smartass' and amusement. His brown eyes gave nothing else away. "Now Miss, you do realise you are currently in trouble already. I have my Major tracing this little video do whatsit and she's probably got you nailed right about now. Why have you called?" He looked at his watch and grinned when he heard a murmured "got it sir."

I scowled. Are all military types this patronising or a general pain in ass? "Well good for your Major! Whoopee do! In _answer_ to your question my name is Aileen Jones and I _work_ for a Doctor Daniel Jackson as an employee of the Jackson Foundation in the UK so don't bother about the Internet Protocol search. I was scheduled to report in at this time and date and so far there is no Daniel. So excuse me mate for calling my boss. Could ya get him for me? I need to give him this info before I go to bed." The face in front of me went through a gamut of emotions. It started with pain, loss, confusion, curiosity and finally a blank military slate. It happened in seconds but my gut feeling suddenly went from bad to worse. Jack took a breath. "Miss, Aileen, you have a lot of explaining to do".

"Gladly! Not to you though! I'll _TALK_ to DANIEL!"

There was a knock at my door and I heard them call to me "PSNI. Open the door!" I figured they'd called the police in whilst I was waiting to speak to this colonel on my computer. Why was it I was not surprised? That in itself was a very good question. "You contacted the police here didn't ya? Ah ya buck eejit! I'm doing classified work for Daniel! Excuse me while I dismiss these skitters!" Jack's face scrunched up in confusion. Like most Americans (no offense!) he just looked as if I'd just spoken fluent gibberish but I ignored it. I had some small fish to fry before I brought out the big pan and roasted him!

I went to my door and opened it. It was who I expected it to be. "Evening boys! I'm kinda guessing you're here because your sergeant sent you and he was sent by a long distance phone call." The two police officers were dressed in their deep bottle green uniforms with a white shirt and black tie hiding underneath with a gun on the left side next to the baton and their radios on the right. I knew they'd come from the Newtonards Road station. "Miss Jones we have been asked to escort you to the station on behalf of the United States Air Force no less!" I looked at the sergeant and realised it was one I talked on and off when he patrolled the area. He smirked. "Have you been a naughty girl? Apparently you are in some trouble with them." I rolled my eyes at him. The other officer was young and new and I wasn't familiar with him. He must have been a new recruit out on his first 'puppy walk'. Something all senior officers did with new recruits.

"I know bhouys (boys). There's been a miscommunication. If you would care to come in we can start to clear this up as I'm speaking to them right now on webcam!" The two male officers looked at each other with incredulity but took off their covers they followed me into the computer desk in my wee living room that had been crammed next to the sofa. They blinked as they saw a US general sitting in front the webcam. When had he arrived onto the screen? It was a shock for me. He however, seemed to know exactly who I was and asked the two officers that I arrange to be escorted down to the police station in the morning.

Apparently, someone was on their way out to 'debrief' me. (Oh how I wish I could take that so many different ways! Love military speak and how you can take it entirely the wrong way!). I was kind of hoping that Jonas Quinn was amongst them – he was cute! Not gorgeous like Daniel but there was a kind of boyish cuteness about him! I was never more glad to see the PSNI boys go and also amused to see them again in the afternoon.

So to cut a long story short I was picked up in the morning and taken to the station where 'Mr Personality' Colonel Jack O'Neill was sitting next to a guy who he introduced as Major Paul Davies. Darnit! No Jonas but what worried me even more was the fact that there was no Daniel. I had a very special letter with me. One I had never opened but was told to bring if I could not get through to him ever. There was a shift in the information I was finding online. The businesses I was keeping an eye on were changing and not in a good way. There seemed to be a small shift in a small town in America and they needed to know this but the question was would they listen to me?

I'd arrived into the station nodding to the desk sergeant and giving him my name and he escorted me into a rather comfortable conference room where the two men sat. I'd been expecting one of the rather drab interrogation rooms that they normally take me to. Apparently, sticking my toe up a colonel of the US Air force's backside had its benefits that included coffee and scones on the conference room table! NICE! They watched as I walked into the room my eye's bugging out like cat on LSD and smirking as I tried to reign in the thoughts about men and uniforms. Ah! Who am I kidding? Mr 'I am Colonel O'Neill' looked really hot in that dress blue uniform! Wonder did Daniel look the same? Daniel and dress blues hmmm? I decided to file that thought away for later consideration in which I would laugh my head offa myself for considering yet another unreal fantasy for myself! I walked over from my position by the door and grabbed a seat.

I'd just realised that I had been standing there for the past few moments gawpin'! Like all good military men they had been standing waiting for me to sit down. Their manners were really quite amusing and so lacking from any other guys that I'd ever met. Usually those guy's manners tantamount to a belly belch and crack from a chair that was followed with a giggle saying "hmm bubbly". YIKES!

Right, um, anyway! Colonel Jack stands up and nods his head "Aileen, It's nice to meet you." It's almost a false politeness. That really grates on me. "Ah catch yerself on Colonel – d'ya wanna introduce your friend?" I see him turn to the other guy and mouth my phrase with a quirk on his lips. "Mam, I'm Major Paul Davis. We understand that you claim to have been working for Doctor Daniel Jackson." I look at him from across the table and I take a breath. "Major Davis, You obviously seem to be a reasonable guy" I feel the colonel look at me. "I have a letter here from Doctor Jackson stating who I am and what I do but I can only give it to someone named Jonathon. He said that only he would understand." Jack's eyes widen at me. "Miss, Aileen, how do we know this isn't some time wasting tactic to prevent us from taking you away from here and throwing you into the nearest cell downstairs?" I sighed. Daniel had warned me that this could be tricky. "Colonel, my boss asked me to say that he wanted you to remember the Osiris incident and before you ask, no I don't know what he meant. So, when do I meet Jonathon and when can we clear this up as I have some information to pass onto Daniel."

Jack lifted his palm out flat and looked at me directly. "I'm Jonathan 'Jack' O'Neill. Daniel was my best friend and he would ask you to give it to me." Hold on did he say 'was'? I stood up and stepped back from my seat a second. "With respect guys, I've been pushed and pulled from pillar to post in the space of the last 12 hours. I need a little proof you are Jonathan." Jack looked at me and his eyes held a respectful sort of approval. He pulled out his military ID and slid it over the conference table where it rested about three quarters across. I leaned over and picked it up. "ID's can be faked. Okay answer me this. Daniel mentioned he had an Egyptian wife who died. What was her name and did he love her." Jacks eyes went wide and he answered. "Sha're, her name was Sha're and he loved her beyond life itself. She's dead and I'm sorry to say that he has disappeared presumed dead."

My knees went right then. My face hardened and I closed my eyes. I refused to let the bullies see me cry in school why should two military men be any different? When I reopened them I slid the letter across the table. I checked my watch. The time said two o'clock. The bars would be open and right now I needed a drink. Several actually! I heard the paper rip on the envelope and there was silence reigning in the room as I watched Jack read the letter and then he passed it onto Major Davies. Jack looked at me and I felt like I was being assessed by the teacher in primary school. I could see myself, 9 maybe 10 years old with small glasses clinging onto my piggy tails and grey school uniform under his gaze and like then I never felt more alone. I closed my eyes again blocking out the traitorous thoughts and fighting the threatening tears. I was wishing to be anywhere but here when I felt a soft touch on my shoulder and I looked up. There stood one cantankerous colonel comforting me. I smiled but the smile was shaky. I took a breath. "Colonel, how long do you have here?" Jack gauged my question cautiously. "Our flight doesn't leave for London until tomorrow morning. Why?"

"Do you have any civvy clothes with ya? I kinda need a drink and I'm guessing you could do with my report. You can figure out what to do with it. I've just got to write down something before I forget." I took out my pad and I casually looked around the conference room. I took a troop of brownies on a tour here once two years ago and you couldn't miss the cameras everywhere. I opened my pad and wrote '_I have things to tell you but not here. PSNI are okay but they are clueless when it comes to the stuff I can tell you. Would like to keep it that way. Plus I fancy a hot whiskey. Interested?' _Jack read the note as if it was the least interesting item on the planet and I noticed him move over to discuss it with the good major. They nodded and turned. "I fancy a drink Aileen. Care to show us your fair city." I took a deep breath and plastered a fake smile on my face. "Sure! I have to stop by my house first and change and I am sure you two do as well _before_ you leave _here_." I placed an emphasis on the here, making sure that they did not miss the urgency my voice. What would surprise a lot of people to know is that there actually rules about where military personnel can go in Belfast and they even have a curfew to be indoors for. If I was going anywhere it had to be with two men not two air force officers. Jack seemed to understand and somehow I felt that he knew about this little province and not in a good way.

Two hours later they were sitting in my living room and I gave them the information that Daniel would have received by overnight post. Paul, Major Davies, looked at me. My small terraced house was in no way flashy but it was my home and I conducted many meetings here with people who supplied me with information. It was the way confidential meetings were held here. Eyes, walls and neighbours had ears but in a terraced house the walls were thick enough to make them inconspicuous.

"So what is this information about?" I'd curled into the sofa with my hot toddy of whiskey and stared at the floating lemon. How to explain? "A few months ago I heard through my conspiracy website about a town in America that woke up with no memory of any nightly activities. A source from the next town over had stayed there a couple of nights and noticed that the town wasn't too keen on people visiting. I figured this was something to tell Daniel about. What you don't know is that the company which worked in that town had links to three other towns in the UK which have suddenly gone dark. One is here in Northern Ireland called Castlefin, one near Dundee in Scotland and an area of tiger bay in Cardiff apparently at an abandoned area of the docks. Now that in itself is just a wee bit odd but what I have also noticed is that the company has been making advances to the both the London Chamber of Commerce and matching the same offer here in Belfast. They seem to be trying to place themselves here permanently and I don't like the activities they get up to and the way people have a habit of dying randomly and sometimes with a frequency that is too noticeable to be coincidental." I coughed and took a sip of my Bushmills.

"Daniel asked me to keep my eyes open for information like this fearing that some unscrupulous practices that went on in the US might overspill into other parts of the world. The Jackson network was born on the Air force principle of 'Don't ask, don't tell' only I ain't dating a fellow officer but instead I respect the fact that this information could be of use to Daniel and his employer who he said was honourable and I trust him on that." Jack swigged his whiskey round the glass. "What made you trust what Daniel was telling you. How did you meet him?" I smiled sadly. "He rescued me in Chicago from a hidin' or beating. Nothing so dramatic as a mugging, just some kids who thought I wasn't worth much." I could hear Jack chuckle softly at that. "Yeah sounds like our Danny."

Paul looked at me. "Why do you run a conspiracy website? What do you hope to achieve with it?" I stared at the guy as if he had two heads. "Paul, conspiracy nuts suffer from verbal diarrhoea. If you check over the stuff they post online and back it up with good research sometimes good information can be gleaned and either sent or controlled without having to do too much. The power of the internet is massive guys and growing. So I can use it to check the information Daniel wants and I also keep an eye open for any unusual pieces at the museum where I work. Plus, it's amazing how much an administrative role will allow you to access. We admin clerks know a heck of a lot more than we're supposed to and we like to talk to other admin clerks. So I tend to know quite a lot of secretaries and PA's who like nothing more than to spill their guts to someone like me as I do a lot of admin when I don't do any guiding around the museum. It's a good position to obtain relevant information. This is what I and two other people do for Daniel in the Jackson network. We are isolated in the UK so we don't meet but we do email on occasion. It keeps the work isolated and the three of us unconnected. We email under usernames but I don't know them and they don't know me. " I could see that men nodding seeing the sense in this. "Right guys that's all I have for you. I don't know what is going to happen to the network. Did Daniel give you any indication in his letter?" I was crossing my fingers. I liked working for Daniel and also the fact that I respected that I would not know where the info would be going. I could feel Jacks eyes on me again. I watched him take a swig on his whiskey. "Hmm nice. Why did you never read the letter?"

I matched his stare with one of my own. "Daniel helped me out once with an act of kindness. Kinda makes a person respect someone and in turn I respected Daniel's privacy and wishes. I will continue to do so." Jack smiled at me and I noticed for the first time that he was more than just military. He was okay and Daniel's friend. I think I could like this guy. I refilled his glass with more whiskey and an air of silence settled over the room. It was getting awkward so I put on the TV to the Simpsons. Jack grinned at me as if I had just given him the prize for the evening. I smiled with him and we both settled back with our drinks and watched the hour special of reruns making occasional comments about our favourite characters or plotline. After taking them out to a good restaurant on Botanic Avenue, I said goodnight and goodbye to my American visitors knowing full well that I wouldn't have a second job in the morning. At least that was what I had thought.

A/N: After 3 very nice reviews and 3 alerts I thought I would add to the vote of confidence in the story! Many thanks to those who clicked and ticked boxes. Go on tell me what ye think! As to that comment about americans, Ulster slang tends to turn heads and is a language onto itself. So yep sorry if it comes across harsh. Not really meaning it to be. I love ya all!


	3. Chapter 3

Glossary

Norn Iron – Northern Ireland banjaxed – broken Bake – face/mouth

Eejit- idiot Skitter – describes someone as a naughty child (or adult)

geg – laugh scundered – embarrassed Afeared – afraid

Yermaa -an insult said when nothing else can be thought of Bake - mouth

slabberin'–to talk incessantly bake – mouth windie - window

Wind yer neck in – used when someone is wound up or being a pain in the ass

Windielickurs - horrid term for the mentally disadvantaged windies – windows

Chapter 3

Over the next set of months I heard nothing from Jack and Paul. I didn't expect to hear from them actually. I sort of guessed that a wee lassie from Norn Iron wasn't exactly on their high priority list especially since my operation was spectacularly amateurish and probably not even worth their attention. However, something was coming and I could feel it. I decided to put the network into stand down and kept my eyes open, collecting information as it came along or passing it onto people who knew what to do with it. Actually a huge part of me refused to quit. Days turned into weeks and weeks into the inevitable months.

I KNEW, somehow I just knew Daniel was not dead. There would be moments I would be sitting staring at my computer when a draft would cross my shoulders and yet my windies were closed. Like there was someone in the room with me. I would accept missing but I refused to believe he was dead. He was my friend. Okay well maybe not specifically my friend, friend but someone who had earned my trust and respect, despite the fact that I had spent the past few months crying on and off, I did not want to ever give up on him.

It was 1st July and I'd been making plans to get out of Belfast due to the Orange Parade Marches celebrating the 12th of July. The Orange Order is a bunch of men (and women) who parade around various sites around the province to celebrate the Battle of the Boyne where William of Orange defeated James the Second. It's like that old joke about the Orange order. Cue cheesy comedian. "I hear the Orange Order have a new calendar which is January, February, march march march march!" and cue canned laughter. Grr hate it! The city usually packs out with people to watch matching bands and I can't stand the parade season. It's often a family affair and people will often pick out their spots to watch the parades but not me.

It's not like there is actually anything wrong with it but it reminds me too much of a cousin I dislike. He goes nuts for this time of year and is a hateful bloke who likes beer and belly belching for a hobby. I grew up around being dragged to parades and it bored me senseless watching my cousin make a complete buck eejit of himself. On the route back home on the buses he tended to get arse wiped on beer and hang the moon of his rear end out the back of the cramped mini bus window swinging it left and right at the cars behind us I guess that's why I can't stand it now. It also gave me an excuse to investigate a rumour going down in London.

We'd heard that there was a new network of dangerous businesses being installed into the corporate bank areas of London who were looking to break into the R&D areas of the Ministry of Defence weapons research and I wasn't sure who or what they were up to but research can only go so far in the lovely Belfast city. My conspiracy friends had been adamant that this was a banjaxed operation and we needed to get the information forwarded onto someone who would listen and I knew just who to contact but I needed confirmation of the information. I arrived into the city of London hoping to make contact with Candice who worked in the government department for business and who had a fascination for all things Egyptian including Takabuti.

The city was cold in its welcome and there seemed to be a constant stream of people bustling up and down the streets wherever I went. Not like Belfast were people pass by looking you straight in the eye or an occasional 'hi' but with heads down and charging on. I was a stranger here and I felt the cold brush of the world in which I inhabited at that moment in time. I stood on the bridge near the back. I'd met her at a Queens University Milk 'job' fair for students who were graduating. She was in the stall next to mine and of course we got to chatting which turned into emails which turned into getting the occasional information about businesses. I told her that I like to research businesses in relation to my professional diploma in administration management.

Complete fib! I mean come ON! Who would believe that I would be that studious? WAIT! Don't answer that one! I asked her info about businesses but nothing classified – how in the world could I get my hands on that and explain it but annual reports which are too bulky to post or other little tid bits which are a matter of public record. I would meet her on the bridge near parliament which was not far from her offices and then we'd grab a coffee and a catch up. I'd bring her the latest news from the Queen's archaeology department to which the museum has close ties including the gossip.

I shiver on the bridge watching yet another river taxi full of tourists pass by, their cameras flashing in that cheesy "ooh look, a building!" fashion. The sun was high in the sky but Candice was late and I was getting worried. Candice was pedantic about time keeping so tardiness was not in her nature. A hand clamps my shoulder and I turn around. Candice is not the one standing there and suddenly my instincts of fear kick in. I know something was up. Something that gets me worried and I supress another shudder.

"AJ, come with me." I make a face at the man standing there. His voice is full of tension that makes me even more afraid. Running my eyes over him I notice that I could not even begin to take him on as he's about six foot with dark hair and brown eyes. His angular face looks chiselled like one of those caricatures you can buy in Covent Gardens. "Yeah" my face says it all. "Who are you and why should I even go with you anywhere. There are police right at the doors of Parliament and I would scream my lungs out to get their attention.

The guy rolls his eyes muttering "Jack never said she was difficult" I caught the words but the meaning was rolling around in my head. Could he mean the Jack I met before or someone different? It was doing me head in trying to figure it all out so I put on me brass neck and spat out. "Oi! Skitter, who is Jack and what are you doing trying to take me away from meeting a friend?" I watched as he looked all around him and it was only then I focused in on his accent. It was American. He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a leather wallet.

He almost straightens into a full attention as he speaks. "Lieutenant Gavin Rossiter. Colonel Jack O'Neill asked me to babysit you since you decided to be a pain in the ass about not quitting the work he so obviously thought had finished. He had a message for you too. He wants you to stop the network. So shall we move from this bridge AJ?" I feel him slide a hand onto the small of my back. It's an affectionate gesture of a boyfriend meeting his girl but I was not his girl neither was I was his to pick up.

I looked at him incredulously but started to shuffle my feet. I was wary of this guy. The way he approached me was all wrong but I wanted to try and get away from him at my first opportunity. I smiled sweetly at him and nodded as we turned to begin our walk away from the bridge. Away from the crowds of tourists and safety in numbers. In my mind I knew that realistically I had two seconds to make my escape. It was obvious that Jack would not even have sent someone like Gavin to watch my back and I had no evidence that he would want me to stop. I would only do that when I saw Daniel and no one else.

I lifted my foot and stomped it down HARD. "Hey YA BHOUY YE! Yermaa!" I yelled in his ear as loud as possible and turned ran like nobody's business. Really what else could you yell in someone's ear when your brain is doing nothing but thinking about survival or freaking out. The curses that came from his bake and hurled my direction were definitely not for polite company. I ran and kept running until I found an opportunity to hide. I knew London a wee bit better than some daft American. I come here shopping most years so it was easy to run for a tourist boat and hide in the bog. When I got off the boat, I dug into my purse and found a well-worn card given to me by one Colonel Jack O'Neill.

I checked my mobile and prayed that I had enough credit on my pay as you go mobile phone to dial. The gruff familiar voice of Jack O'Neill answered. "O'Neill. Who the hell is this?" I scoffed and smiled "Jack this is Aileen. I need your help and I'm sorry about the time difference but you were the only one I can call about this. In case you forgot I'm the wee lassie from Belfast who introduced you to Bushmills Whiskey and Tayto crisps. Ya know the skitter who happens to know Daniel."

"Ah fer crying out loud! Do you have any idea what time it is here?" I did a mental count back in my head. "Yep it's about … dark o'clock and you were just about to moan that I'd woken you up. Sorry! Cannae be helped. Small matter of getting me backside chased from a bridge in London. .So wind yer neck in and tell me if you have heard of a Gavin Rossiter and how he friggin' well knew how to find me." I heard a groan and a sigh from Jack. I gathered that I was about to be scundered but that wasn't exactly what I expected. "Umm yeah about that, we've had our eyes on you for some time." Jack's voice sounded full of shame as he said that.

I sucked in a breath and said something that rarely exited my mouth. "Getawaywouldya….. Yer a geg Jack O'Neill a real sweetheart. I've been trying to gather some evidence of something which I had been warning about since I last met you and you blow me off without a second glance." The taste in my mouth was sour as the lunch I'd upchucked into the bog a few minutes before making the call and my anger was building fast. One tip for all ye who meet an Ulsterman or woman. Don't piss us off we tend to explode in different ways. Things kinda get messy in one way or another.

I exited the bog with a lot of people staring at me as though I had chronic bladder problem and I was yelling into my mobile at ten to the dozen. I ignored them all and got off at the next stop next to the HMS Belfast near tower bridge. I heard my name being repeated over and over again by one Jack O'Neill who thought that that would get me to shut my bake for one minute. Oh how much of a Windielickur he was!

"D'ya know that there is an organisation called the Trust trying to get a foothold on information about advanced R&D being done by the British governments ministry of defence department and It involves a new type of fighter that can go into space. Jack if that type of information is online from my sources then you have a problem and someone has just tried to prevent me from meeting a source over this. If that was you then I will never be able to crack that source again." There was silence at the end of the phone and I knew I had his attention.

"Jack, I don't care what this is about. What I do care about is that I promised to continue to keep my eyes open for information like this for Daniel's sake. He helped me once and I will continue to do that in either his memory or his name sake. I don't know which since you won't tell me if he is alive or dead. You are his friend and as such that promise extended to you the day and hour we crossed paths. If it means keeping you informed and safe for him then that is what I will continue to do." The silence lengthened and a long sigh came out of the phone.

"Aileen, I'm flattered," Jacks tone was one of placation. I gritted my teeth finding it patronising rather than soothing.

"Aye Jack and I'm yer ma."

"Aileen, you're a civilian mixed up in things that don't concern you. Daniel wouldn't ask you to do a Scooby doo routine and risk your life. You have so much ahead of you. There are fights you aren't meant to be involved in and this is one of them. You don't know Daniel well enough to think that what you are doing now would be something he would ask you to be involved in. In fact I know he would not want you to be involved in this. You were an administrative help for a short time and now that time has passed."

I walked along the streets of London trying to keep a brisk pace and an eye over my shoulder in case anyone was following me. "Jack, catch yerself on. The world and these problems are not solely the property of the United States government. You forget what affects you affects all of us in some way especially Norn Iron as a lot of immigrants come back and forth from the states and more business investment is coming our way thanks to the good ol' US of A. I have been doing so much more than you think for so long an' yer right. Daniel didn't ask me to go this far and I don't know him properly but I do know one thing. Whoever decided to expand this business into Europe wants their talons in all areas of the world and Europe is one stepping stone to that goal." I got more wound up as I continued like I said don't piss an ulster woman off.

"Think about it, my little patch of land is forgotten because no one thinks that we pay any attention to the outside world much because our politicians are so busy trying to find their own arses. We get more coming through both north and south of the borders which are hardly regulated. What better way to get information or items smuggled into Britain and the rest of Europe. If drug dealers can do it then why not a semi legit business trying to get its hooks into government operations. Let me help! No one looks at clerical staff for anything other than a cuppa tae and their typing done. I do not want to sit out on a fight that could mean more people getting hurt. Daniel made this my fight the day he hired me. I am not a child and I know what damage information can do. I lived through it all at home. Norn Iron was not always a safe or certain place to grow up in but it was our fight for peace that stands clear. Let me fight again for that peace even if it is just in Daniels' name." I stopped on an empty street and my breathing was laboured from running and slabberin' at the same time.

Again Jack said nothing for a few moments. When he finally spoke it was slow and deliberate. "Aileen, this is not my call. I'm only a colonel but you are right about one thing. This is not about one nation. Things are changing here and from what you've told me you need find Gavin now. I wanted to keep you out of this for Daniel's sake. He has enough guilt to carry without someone like you adding to it. However, I'm afraid that I am going to have to bring you in now." My heart lifted and inwardly I cheered. A cough came from the other end of the line. "Don't celebrate just yet missy! You have no idea what you have got yourself into. Go to your hotel and I'll get Gavin to meet you there. Where are you staying?" I gave Jack the name of my hotel and my flight details and made my way onto the tube.

As I continued back to my hotel in Piccadilly my brain started to tick over and with each passing moment though as I travelled back to my hotel, I could feel a foreboding dread coming on. Did I have any idea what I was getting into? What on earth was I getting into? Suddenly I wanted very much to go home as I suddenly realised how afeared I was of my future but somehow I would protect that which Daniel had entrusted to me no matter what. Of that I was certain.

When Gavin picked me up at the hotel, I felt the daggers in my back. We were walking to the tube station in Piccadilly with me trying to the 100 metre sprint out in front of the guy. I mean c'mon he was pissed with me. I wasn't going to allow myself to stand next to a highly trained ass kicking pissed soldier. I knew that he wasn't happy with me getting a slight one over on Gavin with the advantage of surprise. I felt that I needed to clear the air but stubbornly refused to let him know that I was willing to let it go. He didn't seem all that interested. Gavin stared at me as if his glare could directly kill me. I stopped in the middle of the street and gave in. "Ah would ye wind yer neck in Gavin. I could tell if you were from Adam or Jack. All I knew was that you were in the way of meeting a friend." I started to storm ahead of him and he grabbed my arm.

He scowled his eyes full of fury. It was scary to look at. "That so called 'friend' was part of those companies that you were poking your nose into. You have been on their radar now ever since you met with the colonel back in Belfast. Your little work with Doctor Jackson meant that you have become a threat. She was coming here today to leave a little bullet deposit right between those pretty eyes of yours." I rocked back on my heels as Gavin placed his finger right between my eyes. "That along with a number another of other threats has been kept out of your line of sight for so long. Apparently you have the respect of the Colonel and he asked me to keep you alive. I've been keeping an eye on you for some time missy so don't dimiss me so quickly."

I think I lost my nerve right there. Tears formed in my eyes and my whole body started to shake. The feeling was growing into hysterics except Gavin pulled me into a hug until I stopped. Who knew? Being on someone's radar for any reason other than dating is never a good thing. In my life I have been on fear's radar with bullies and bosses who had an axe to grind but I never have been so scared. I forced my mind to calm and the shaking to stop. Never show them you're scared, be they friend or foe. Never let them in. I threw my arms up to break his hold and stepped back. "Mon, let's get to wherever you want me to go." My voice was solemn, grave with Gavin grabbed my arm and we boarded the tube. He leaned in and whispered in my ear. "Next stop airport and after that Denver and onto Colorado. You are going to see an old friend." Little did I know that it would be a visit that would change my life yet again.


	4. Chapter 4

Glossary

Mankin – awful/stinks/yuck Eejit – Idiot slaggin' – making fun of..

ye wha? – usually end up saying this if you don't get something. (come on fellow irish how many times have you had to say this?)

Cultchie - a farmer type. and old fashioned person, with old fashioned ideas..

**Chapter 4**

Much of the journey passed in a blur. The flight for the states wasn't from one of the regular airports but from an RAF airfield. We were ferried across to one of the USAF Europe stations and flew out the rest of our journey from there. Outside of that the journey lost its meaning. Daniel's network was on the Trust's radar and that meant that my friends were in trouble. I knew for certain now that that was what this group was called as Gavin's reaction confirmed it for me and the fact they had targeted my friends was not on. Unaware of the arrival at the airfield in the states and the chill of the night air I was summarily bundled into a troop truck and the flap pulled over. I felt tiny and suddenly more afraid of what was going to happen. A sheet of paper was shoved in front of me by some unknown man and I was ordered politely to sign on the dotted line. He was tall and dark and built like a tank. He was wearing the same green uniform which I saw on Jonas.

There was also something else there in strange dark brown eyes. Sympathy, I think that affected me more than his build and stature. This strange man with no connection to me had sympathy for me. How does someone quantify and qualify for that?

There was a box in front of me on the truck. I leaned on it and signed my name knowing full well that my life was about to change in more ways than one. From an outsiders perspective you could argue that that I'd lost the plot and you'd be right but for some reason I always felt that I had been walking on this path for some time. Not because I was bright or intelligent but because I knew it was right.

When you come from a home such as mine a lot of people were brought up to believe one kind of faith or another. It was church on Sunday and youth groups through the week. Whether you choose to believe or not in a God some of that rubs off on your perspective on life. To quote Ian Brown "I had the F.E.A.R. – FOR EVERYTHING A REASON". Right now that reason was being chucked a pair of green BDU's and being asked to change on the truck whilst the boys waited outside of it. I obeyed and changed.

Gavin came in and sat beside me on the truck as it moved away from the building it had been sitting in. I held onto the seat for dear life keeping my mouth firmly shut. Some minutes later I felt something warm cover and squeeze my hand. My head whipped around as though I had had an electric shock. Gavin's eyes were straight ahead but his hand covered mine and just as quickly the warmth had gone. His reasons for doin' that are completely lost on me but it was as though in the space of 24 hours he'd forgiven me for actin' an eejit.

We arrived at a tunnel entrance and the world seemed to grow even smaller as I was summarily signed in and swallowed down the two elevators to the bottom or what felt like the bottom. I had no idea where I was and the baseball cap covered my hair making my field of vision somewhat a bit more limited. It was hard to stay focused on the tunnels and the twists and turns that Gavin and his quiet companion led me down. We arrived at an office door and Gavin knocked. "Enter!" The voice was demanding and patient in the same measure. My eyes lifted onto the face of a general I had seen over a webcam and at my interview all those years ago. I nodded to the man who commanded my respect immediately.

"Miss Aileen Jones. Welcome to the United States and the SGC. I am General Hammond and I command this facility. As of now you are officially being warned that anything you see or hear in these walls are classified top secret and any disclosure could end with your imprisonment. Not that that couldn't already happen." He gestured to a seat in front of his desk.

"Please take a seat." I was only too glad to take up his offer but I did not miss the threat that had come with it. "It seems young lady that you don't take no for an answer and in that stubbornness you have created a lot of trouble for yourself. Can you give me a good reason why I shouldn't put you straight into jail? What should I decide to do with you?" His tone was even but held a gravity I did not miss. Shifting in my seat I lifted my gaze directly to his and stared not without compassion straight at him. I had become a problem and I was human enough to admit it but only to myself. 'Better answer him' I thought.

"General, I have been researching this faculty which you call the Trust and found that they have been trying to get a hold of vital information regarding projects in which the British MOD have been commissioning via private firms on behalf of the US Air force. I have found more and more references to a fighter which can go into space and has a number of capabilities previously unavailable to modern air fighters. In this respect I have been correlating the reports and trying to get people to believe that there is no such fighter existing but also trying to find out what this organisation would want with such a fighter. Sir, I believe from what I have been able to find out that they want a squad of their own and as such will go to any lengths to steal and wipe out any knowledge of the plane. I don't want to know what's going on except to help defend that which has been peaceful for so long. I'm tired of seeing yet another war – no matter how secret start whilst I have been told to sit back and carry on with my normal life."

I cocked my head to one side and paused for thought. Growing up I learnt about duty especially within my family. I was always expected to be on call for my parents, my elder brothers and eventually my sister who had a baby young. I was always obligated as the single person' in the family to be on call for the family and now I had a chance to use that duty of being more than a daughter or sister or auntie, now I was more concerned about the duty to those friends within the network. I heaved a sighed as I paused. I looked up and the general had expectant eye staring at me. I braced myself and continued in my ramble.

"I cannot let that kind of evil go on and do nothing about it especially when it concerns my part of the world. Who can you say you have in Europe keeping an eye on things like this? It is not just about one nation but many and I was hired to do this by you and Doctor Jackson and then left to get on with things without so much as a 'by your leave'. I remember you on the interview panel. You were tenacious in my questioning but I also remembered that you listened to me then as now. General Hammond please let me fight again even if my war – and from the way you are treating me, this, feels like a war even if it is on paper. Let me do what you asked in the first place."

There was a silence as deafening as the engines of the plane that brought me here. He took a deep breath and spoke softly.

"You do realise young lady that you breached the terms of our arrangement some time ago after you had been visited by Colonel O'Neill. We had told you that Doctor Jackson was no longer around and you knew what that meant for the terms of your employment and yet you wilfully disobeyed those terms. That in itself has led you and other to whom you are associated with to be in danger through your own wilfulness. The United States Government needs every airman here or out doing their duty in various parts of the world. What it does not need is to be wasting resources on a woman who won't take no for an answer and who is reckless in her actions."

I couldn't let that comment pass without a response. "General with all due respect you never gave me a dismissal. It was a thank you very much and we'll be in touch. If I may be equally explicit, the world does not turn just because the US government says so! I will not stand down until someone like Doctor Jackson tells me to because there is no need for me anymore."

He chuckled at that.

"No I suppose it doesn't young lady but your employer is the US government who did not make that little fact public. No matter how you like to dress it up or down you were working for them until Colonel O'Neill came to see you but you dismissed the thought that we did not need you anymore and carried on. We've seen your information courtesy of Lieutenant Rossiter and it seems that you have found some interesting facts out about our friends which we call 'The Trust'. Therefore in light of the fact that you have been persistent in your approach I would like to offer you continued employment doing what you currently do but with a condition that you relocate yourself up in another part of Belfast AND with Lieutenant Rossiter and a few discreet individuals from the European contingent of the US Air Force."

Now if you had a pinhole camera on the office wall and the general had turned his back. I woulda been doing a 'let me see your funky chicken' crossed with an Irish jig dance in the middle of his office. Instead I put on my most serious face and thanked him once with a tight brief smile and a nod. He reached for his office intercom and asked for Gavin. He was promptly in the door and I turned and nodded to him. Quietly, gravely, I said "Alrite mate?"

He looked nodded briskly to me and saluted the general. We walked along the corridor again and made our way to the lift that would take us up to another level. Standing waiting for the lift that seemed to never want to come. Time seemed to slow in that moment. I heard footsteps coming our way and I saw a man with his head shoved in a book and a cup of coffee in his hand coming in our direction. His short sandy brown hair seemed to bob with each step as reached the lift. It looked like… but that couldn't be…. Jack said that he… I felt a hand grip my arm as my breath came in ragged gasps. Panic attack! Not now definitely not now! I felt like I wanted to be sick as I collapsed onto the floor and I couldn't catch a breath. I felt claustrophobic as if the walls were coming in around me. Bile scratched up my throat and tears were falling from my eyes. Voices were coming in all around me and they sounded muffled compared to the fact that I COULD NOT BREATHE!

There was a scrabble and a rush of hands. There was a smell of coffee on the floor and a very gentle pressure of someone rubbing my back and talking to me. Quietly, gently there was a finger placed under my chin which demanded that I look up.

"Danny boy? They told me you were gone." I could hear a squeak in my voice and yet it was all I had the energy to say. All I had the energy to gasp out, and blow me, didn't he smile softly and crookedly at me. Then I heard a woman's voice ordering everyone out of the road and a wheelchair being placed blessedly in front of me. I was lifted into the chair and I felt everything go blessedly black. I think my body couldn't cope anymore because my heart and soul decided it needed a quick trip with Jonny Nod.

I woke to a beep, beep, beep of heart monitors and a quiet flick of pages. If I could say I was scundered then that was how I felt but strangely I wasn't. I felt warm and safe. A head raised gently up from a book and I felt a hand in mine. I turned my head to see who had placed it in mine and I thought that I would pass out in shock again but I didn't.

"Hey sleepy head! You know Jack jokes that I have an effect on women but somehow I wasn't expecting you to have a panic attack and faint on me." Daniel smirked at his own comment as if laughing at a secret I wasn't in on.

I wanted to laugh at the statement but somehow as funny as it was I couldn't find the strength. I'd mourned him so long ago and now here Daniel sat. I looked in his eyes and there was a blank expression that showed no recognition of me and who I was. I think in that one moment I realised that I had signed my life away for a man who no longer recognised me as a friend or even acquaintance. It was like that time at Uni where I threw a birthday party in a club thinking that all those people I talked to regularly would come and I stood in an empty dance floor with no one around me. I wasn't important. It was hard lesson then and this incident meant that I understood it again.

I decided to speak my mind (but that was not a new concept). "Ah catch yerself on! Ya thought that was you? Nah it was the smell of that mug ye were carryin'. What was in that coffee cos it was while! What a mankin smell! I'd prefer the smell of a proper drink like tea!" A look of mock horror crossed Daniel's face and he pretended to cringe.

"I can't believe you don't like coffee! It's the holy grail of caffeine." Daniel mock winced.

"Ah but does it make you pee straight after you drink it and make you heart go nine to the dozen?"

"Uh, no and ew!" Daniel screwed his face up in disgust.

"Well you brought it up!" I retorted. I felt that if he was going to be disgusted that he deserved that last remark.

"I didn't need the whole graphic detail!"

"Yes you did"

"not"

"did"

"not"

"Did"

"not"

I got bored with this argument. "Okay mature much? Why do I get the feeling Danny that you argue like this a lot? I know I can act like a wain but this is ridiculous!"

Danny smarted slightly. "Okay! First off, I'm not immature, in fact I look to be older than you and secondly what's a wain?"

"Firstly, you are a bloke so therefore you are genetically predisposed to have some leftover immaturity and secondly a wain is a child." I grinned cheekily at him. "Hey it's okay to want to grow old disgracefully. I subscribe to that philosophy often!" I smiled softly at him. Definitely I wanted to remind this guy who I was even if it was just again, thank him for being my rescuer. I was desperate in that moment just to be friendly to the one person who gave me a chance to open my eyes to the world outside of myself and my own selfish needs and it was fun to kick off against him! He seemed to be such an easy target for a slaggin'.

Daniel rolled his eyes. It felt like he had become more of a child in himself and not in a good way. He'd changed. That much I could see. There was an edge to him now that was not evident before. He reminded me of the kids who sat in the corner and would kick off if you got too close to them on a visit and yet they knew so much and were so very bright. Daniel was that kid right now. I sat up in my bed and looked around me. The room was softly lit and a bank of monitors sat to one side. There was a row of about three beds sat side by side like silent guardians to my right. Each one neatly lay decked out in crisp white hospital linen. There were no windows making what should have been a cheerful place into a more haunting dark hopeless place for me. Especially when it was some place were life was fought for.

When I turned my head to the left there stood Gavin with a guarded expression on his face. It was even hard to tell if he even showed any concern but I felt that he covered his feelings and buried them deep. He stared long and hard at Daniel as if accusing him of something and I could tell what it was. The atmosphere was broken by a petite auburn haired woman who walked briskly through the door.

"Daniel, I would have thought you would be trying to avoid staying here again but if you'd like another physical I can certainly arrange it." I looked over at Daniel and smirked at the slow cringe developing on his face. The voice was female and held a tone that brooked no argument.

"That's okay Janet. I was just minding your patient for you."

There was a snort from the door and I could tell it was Gavin who initiated that one. Janet gave both men a hard look.

"Lieutenant you'd be welcome to join him considering you missed out on your last two. In fact I'd insist on it." Gavin looked at his watch and suddenly looked behind him.

"Sorry doc, I think I just heard my name being called." Gavin spoke hastily. Talk about your pathetic excuses. What is it with men and medicine?

The woman they'd called Janet looked me over calmly and professionally. She smiled softly. "So Miss Jones. Do you have a habit of having panic attacks or fainting fits?"

"When I was a teenager yes. I suffered from an anxiety disorder which triggered them. I haven't had one in years." Janet stepped back to look at Daniel as if to say 'hop it!' He nodded and lifted himself out of the chair and nodded to me gently as he left the room. "Miss Jones"

"Can you call me Aileen please? You make me sound like I'm getting told off by the headmaster." Janet's face scrunched up in mild confusion.

"A what?" I racked my brain for the American equivalent to the word I'd just used. It came up with a big fat blank! Ding! Guess what my brain has gone blank! Superb! Just as two very steady eyes looked at me expectantly for an explanation.

"Oh, um, head of a school" I clarified. Her eyes cleared of confusion.

"Oh, a principal!" She cried. Gee now don't I feel like a right cultchie! I shoulda known that one! DUH! "Do you know why you fainted?"

I looked at the door Daniel just left out of and I felt rather than saw her eyes follow mine. A sigh rolled off her in waves and I looked directly at her. It was as if the weight of the world came crashing onto her shoulders and with it a hundred different emotions with it.

"I should have known that someone would have eventually fallen into the trap of oh no he's alive again! I watched him die once and that was hard enough but to face him after all that again…. It's been eight months since he returned and I still can't accept that I couldn't help him then as now." Janet's eyes were filled with sorrow and guilt.

Now any sane person would be freaking out at this point. Me, I'm still trying to keep my head from processing the phrase 'ye wha?' bit of a bad time to let that one slip. I could just see the next conversation with Daniel now. "Hmm so I hear you died." I could see myself standing there reacting to the statement with my head bobbing sagely at his reactionary nod. "That's very interesting – so how's resurrection working out then?" Maybe I should give it a go just to see if the reaction matches the one I have going on in my head. Oops! I suddenly realise that the room has gone quiet and that Janet is looking at me. It's like she's asked a question and I completely missed it.

"Sorry. I still can't quite wrap my head around what you've told me." Janet smiled and there was an almost sad tinge to a very warm expression.

"There are days I don't fully get it myself. I wish I could help him, I wish I could forgive myself for not being able to help Daniel then. I wish…" there was regret in her tone. I looked at her and nodded in understanding. Regret has haunted me as well. That feeling of things that could have happened but didn't. I knew it well and Janet looked like she needed to talk. Somehow I think very few people had time to listen. Not that they probably wouldn't everyone just seemed…. Busy. I decided to pipe up and give her my view –rightly or wrongly.

"Sometimes Janet, it's not about what you wish you could do but what you can do. I wish Daniel could remember me, I wish he knew the impact he has had on my life since I was young. However, I am here now and I can DO something about it now. Maybe there will be areas I cannot cross but at least I can be something of use to Danny now."

We looked at each other as if we shared this epiphany together. Somehow we both knew the truth in what was said. So I'm not that important to Danny – so what? There is no sense in wondering what shoulda, coulda, woulda been important to this friendship that had existed even in some small form. Now for me was the time to make it something that mattered in some small way and I had to start to trust something other than myself in that. There was a mild cough from behind both of us. I looked around and there was my shadow back again waiting faithfully by the door. I blushed. My face lit up like a red light district on a party night. The look in Daniel's eyes said that he had heard it all and I wanted to crawl into a corner.

Instead he cleared his throat and simply said "You coming? She is free to leave isn't she, Janet? Colonel O'Neill wants to speak with both of us." Janet looked as equally as embarrassed as myself. She couldn't speak and I could tell, so she covered by nodding her assent. Daniel's gaze was very intent on Janet and I felt a frisson of something other than friendship there. There was that sense of hopeless possibility that love leaves in its wake. I leaned over and hugged the woman who had been talking with me and I whispered to her.

"Take the chance to do something Janet now. Life doesn't always go to plan. I think he's waiting for you." She smiled and nodded. I don't think I ever saw her again after that. I remember though crying for her weeks later when I heard about her death from Daniel.

A/N: *Ducks from D/J shippers* I just thought that somewhere along the line Aileen would have had to bump into Daniel if she ever went to the SGC.


	5. Chapter 5

**No Snakes in Ireland**

**Chapter 5**

It was not that the tunnels in the SGC were long but they seemed unending as Daniel and I wound our way through to find Jack. I havete admit that meeting Jack again with a dubious but slightly clearer knowledge as to where I had called the first time, was something to behold. I had a feelin' that I was about to get the whole story if I wanted it or not. It was weird though as Danny seemed to be in a rush to get there ahead of time.

How te describe this place? It's like an ant warren with people to-ing and fro-ing and skittering about with various soldier ants (SF's) guarding the halls at random intervals. Daniel was quiet as we walked and didn't engage me in any chat as we rode the lift and arrived into what I now recognised as his office. Seeing it for real and not a snippet behind a person gave me hope for me imagination. Just what had Daniel been doing since I first met him?

Daniel turned and studied me as I was gawping like a confused kid. All I could do at that moment was stare. I found that I wasn't gonna apologise for it. I turned again to face Danny boy and he was half smilin', half concerned. "I tend to forget how much of a hoarder I am. When people come in they either have one of two reactions shock or boredom. I think I got yours as being shock Aileen." Daniel had said this laconically but I could sense a tone of worry under his voice. I ventured a response to this " Danny, where's Jack? I may be impressed by your stuff but you told me we were meeting Jack and just as every time I put my faith in you because if that.".

Daniels face turned grave as he shifted his feet and looked to the floor. I heard him heave in a heavy breath and sigh. "I wanted to talk first. Aileen, you are a very little girl playing at detective. You have no idea what you are going up against!" I scowled at his statement. Ya know I wanted to hit him as well. Daniel raised his hand and continued "No, no, don't get mad at me. You still have your innocence. For that, I very much envy you right now. Aileen, I've lost so much including what is left of my innocence! Idin't lie to you! Jack will meet us here in about half an hour and he will shatter that innocence at your request. Aileen I am begging you to ask Jack just to keep you safe but out of this whole world." It was hard not to miss the pleading in his voice. To quote another show 'Gee do ya wanna little cheese with that whine?'

Daniels words lay heavy on me and I felt betrayed. "You started this just as a watcher Aileen and now you have ventured onto so much more dangerous ground. You are now no longer watching but hunting. There are people out there who will kill you for what you know and I did not want that for you. When we met all those years ago in Chicago, you were a teenager and I liked that you had the ability to be brave with words not fists. You accepted me then without a 'by your leave' and I want you to continue to see the world that way without fear. Aileen once you step into my world you will lose the innocence that makes me like you as a friend."

I scoffed at his words. I think I wanted now more than ever to listen to Jack and just get on with it but when I looked deep into Daniels pleading blue eyes I knew he was pleading for something more precious. My innocence! Something so precious to him that he felt he needed to protect me. One little fact he should have noticed tho. I AM NOT A CHILD!

I was fed up of the cotton wool these guys were tryin' to wrap me in. Something bad was comin' and ne'er was there a time to keep thon girlie innocent. I didn't grow up innocent not where I was from. Northern Ireland lost its innocence the day the first bomb went off, the first shot was fired. Each child from the 60's to the millennium that had grown up during that time period knew that as a fact of life. So it was laughable to be called innocent by Daniel.

I crossed my arms defiantly and turned away towards the door. I should have stamped my foot too. I noticed that we had gained an audience. There standing in the doorway watching the whole scene was Gavin. He looked at me with an understanding which was powerful in its lure and attractive to me in way that I was frequently used to. It was the kind of attraction that ended in heartbreak – unrequited attraction. No guy looked at me that way. I was still a frumpy backstreet millie and no amount of years could change that.

The silence had become deafening and I could tell Daniel was waiting for me to respond. I rolled my eyes at Gavin and he smirked. It was as if Gavin could read how I was going to react to Daniel. How could he do that? How could Gavin know me that well? He walked over to the spare chair in the office shrugging as he went and sat down as if waiting to watch a show that was as much a mini drama as it was an actual argument.

I took a breath and spoke quietly. "Danny, I was born in province in Ireland where spies, military, police road blocks and terrorism were the order of our lives for some of my life. I am no more innocent than anyone else who grew up there. Innocence is such a flexible term when it comes to fear. You learn to find the light in every corner of fear in order for it to become hope because otherwise what would be the point? Let me at least do my job finding information for you. Shine a light in corners where I know another storm is brewing." My voice had gone from soft speech to pleading. I turned to face Daniel so he could see that I was in earnest. Walking up to him I placed my hand on his crossed arms. "Please let me continue my work for you Daniel. I'm not a little girl anymore. There are days I don't think I ever was." I heard him sigh in resignation and a flash of 'something' which I could almost call grief like crossed his eyes. He nodded and in that I felt relief. I hugged him knowing that at last my choice had been given his blessing.

"Ach fer cryin' out loud Daniel! Why do you always have to add another girl to your little black book?" Jack's voice made us jump. He'd come in with an attractive blond with very short hair and crystal blue eyes. In her arms were a number of lever arch A4 files that screamed of bureaucracy. I smirked back and decided to rib the good colonel. "Uh Jack? How exactly would you know if Danny has a black book of girls? Have you been rifling through his things in order to get a date?" Jack coughed and Daniel hid a laugh in the same way. Jack suddenly went to the most obvious tactic. He turned to the blonde and spoke with her. "Carter, why don't you put those over onto Daniel's desk there and say hello to the lovely Aileen. I'm sure you two have a lot to talk about with Daniel. I'm going to be elsewhere doing wonderful things. Such as not being here." I love it when a man avoids answering an embarrassing question - makes the wondering about the answer all the more interesting.

With this last statement Jack turned on his heels and bolted. It was as if a heavy weight had lifted from the room and we all burst out laughing. Honestly the tears were drippin' from me eyes. I couldn't stop laughin'. It took us all ten minutes before we calmed down and five minutes more before we could look one another in the eye without cracking up again. Carter hugged me and said "I have never seen the Colonel do that before! Thanks for making me laugh. Name's Sam."

I smiled at her taking a deep breath before I spoke. "You are very welcome Sam. I get the feeling you and Gavin are here with Daniel for business not pleasure though. Shall we get down to it?" For the rest of that day my world was turned on its side and my innocence died a little more. Gavin told me about the stargate and what he did for a living. This was followed up by Daniel giving me a history lesson and Sam explaining the science. They told me I needed to know what I was doing this for and they were right. Peace may have finally come to Northern Ireland in these last few years but peace in the galaxy came at an even greater price. I absorbed every detail like a sponge and was awed by what had changed my friend Daniel.

We broke these sessions only for food and only as a necessity. It was agreed that Gavin would be my protection and trainer in self-defence and information gathering techniques. I would visit the SGC rarely so as to limit my connection with the facility. Communication was to be a timed intervals and in various forms. Daniel was my overall boss in terms of information and I would have a number to call in case of emergencies. Concealed in my suitcase would be a letter directing the person finding it to contact Jack should anything go wrong. The Jackson network was to be re-established under a different name but I had to develop my own sources and my own dead drops.

In essence I was an analyst but with some intelligence duties. In the rest of the way Gavin was also my boss and my protection detail. We would live together and work together. Me ma was gonna have a fit about this. She was a good practicin' cath'lic who believed that a man and woman lived under the same roof only in marriage. Hard lines – let her fret. She outa know me better than that!

The very next afternoon I flew back into Dublin with my new roomie in tow. I liked Gavin from the very little I knew of him. To be frank that was actually very little considering we'd only met 48 hours ago. I just hoped he wasn't much of a slob when it came to house work!

I shook myself. There was this feeling that wouldn't leave me. We were being watched now from all sides. Something in my heart of hearts told me there was a storm coming and Northern Ireland was gonna be the eye of it. The question I have is who is watching this watcher.

A/N: this essentially is the end of the second half of a long chapter broken in two. Okay should not be long now till I get this written. Background complete. Now onto the juicy bit!


	6. Chapter 6

A/N:

Sectarianism - defined as "a narrow minded adherence to a particular sect, party or denomination.

As the months passed and Gavin and I worked together during the evenings and we found that there was some common ground between us. We both loved science fiction and we were desperately passionate about the Ulster rugby team. Nights when we both were not out at our private training ground with Gavin teaching me how to stay safe i.e. my sister's barn out near Ballygowen were spent using up the season ticket at Ravenhill – home of the Ulster rugby team. Time ticked by and people began to believe that Gavin and I were dating. A fact that we didn't dispel in fact we encouraged it in the company of those who knew us. I only wished it was really true. Gavin was my best friend and my safety net all rolled into one - nothing more. At least that is what I was thinking. It was too easy to fall for him if I let myself.

We heard that the company had bought up some of the London, Wales and French firms associated or closely linked to the programme. We would hear of work tendered out to the firms but nothing certain to draw attention at the NID, the IOA or the SGC. Talk about an acronym nightmare! We continued to monitor them and keep. Our eyes open. Nothing new or remarkable happened except that each purchase led to a string of people either disappearing or reappearing dead. We continued to warn but it fell on mostly deaf ears. No substantial proof. I tried to not be bitter but it was hard not be some days.

**September 2006**

Ye may remember back a ways, I mentioned the skitter who kept showing up at the museum. Ye know the wan (one) man strokin' Takabuti's glass display as if she were life itself. He was tall with dark hair and intensely dark eyes. His little goatee was something else too. He tended to walk with a haughty air of power around him. It just did not feel right.

Gavin came into the museum and watched him from the security post. He'd got a job as a private security consultant which gave him free reign around the business. He noticed something that day that he would not let me go near. Gavin tended to be overprotective and sometimes that got to be overbearing.

Our work trackin' the business buyin' up smaller MOD quangos found that it was not the Trust as we suspected. There were none of the hallmarks of the trust within the sales. The employees of each organisation tended to be blindly loyal to the firm. Almost reverant in their approach to the work that they were doing. There was no evidence of brain washing or nista. It was as if a cult had jumped up from nowhere and there was nothing we could do about it.

When we first reported this neither Daniel nor Jack would believe the evidence.

It didn't help that the war against the Goa'uld was at height over the last few years and Jack had gotten a promotion to general. There was too much goin' on for anyone to notice what was happening under their noses. It also scared me that our friends in MI5 and MI6 were also ignoring what was goin' on no matter what was toul' (told) to them.

However we checked out thon boyo who kept showin' up at the museum and found he was a private collector of Egyptian artefacts. He seemed obsessed with our mummy but for the life of me I couldn't figure out her importance especially after reading the old paper scroll up in the office. It felt like paper but had the sense of something more. She was a princess that was the only thing that fit to the translation.

A new junior guide called Tamara Knight had arrived into the museum in the last six months and she was drooling over my fake boyfriend. She was not me and could understand why some of the male guides drooling over her but felt like they were wasting time on her. Belfast blonde that was so white you could see her dark roots, skinny with piercing green almond shaped eyes. Everything about her was fake right down to her over used grey eye shadda and personality. No, this is not jealousy. I know what I have asset wise. I just didn't have to pay for it 'cos I'm au natural!

I have to warn ye she's a vicious, poisonous wee princess who is after my job, and given the chance, Gavin. She came on as a junior guide six months ago but has lately been pokin' her slapper nose into both my personal and professional life. That meant that our work within the network could be in jeopardy.

She wanted to cause trouble from day an' hour she arrived and she has already tried a few ways already to get me fired. Nothing too major just various little things like stealing petty cash slips from my desk and saying how she 'found them' or taking confidential files and 'leaving' them in public areas. Things that would get me noticed as they are part of my job responsibility. Thankfully Alan on security sees me right. Although I think he is kinda sweet on me and at 65 years that can be either creepy or just nice. Still can't decide which.

One night Tamara managed to lay a kiss on Gavin during the staff do' at the Globe bar. She was drunk and he was there playing the role of bodyguard come other half. She slide up beside him and just turned and kissed him. I managed to 'communicate' my displeasure at that when she 'tripped' up on the way out of the pub at 2am. It helped that she was lathered in alcohol and didn't remember where the glorious shiner came from the next morning.

I often find her trying to snoop at my desk or my computer and I'm afeared she will try for my laptop next which is stored in a drawer next to my desk. All my work for the SGC revolves around 3 laptops which are encoded by Sam and shipped to my work so that I can have them hand delivered by an airman who is on leave in Belfast. They don't know what the package is or why they have to leave it there. They just follow the orders given in trade for a free trip. Sometimes, Gavin will meet them and take them for a tour round Belfast.

Today was not one of those days. I'd gone for a coffee across at the Students union in Queens on my lunch break. I wanted to meet with an archaeology student who had an amazing find to share. One which could be linked to the Goa'uld but he didn't know that and that's the way it was gonna stay. Daniel had arranged for me to buy the item off him under the pretense that it would be for the museum archives. I would log it in and it would be mysteriously bought by a private collector namely the American Government who would then ship it to area 51. I came back from the meeting feeling fairly good about the outcome. The fella decided to sell which meant that Gavin would pick the item up later and we would take it out of the public view. Score one for us!

Tamara met me at the door to the admin office. She was smiling sweetly at me with the laptop in her hand. My breath stopped and I felt my heart speed up. As she spoke I could hear the acid in her tone. "Who is Daniel and why is he sending you a laptop? Thought you had a boyfriend? Hmm?" She raked her hand over the laptop with a smile of victory.

I wanted to slap her vindictive little face right there and then. Daniel had left a note in there and the chances are Tamara had read it. The only blessing was that she would not understand the context of the drawn symbols around the edge. Thank you Danny boy. He'd been teaching me Goa'uld for the last few years so the drawings would look like doodling to anyone not in the know.

I sucked in a calming breath and quietly spoke. "Tamara, do you often make it a habit to read mail from private sponsors. Daniel is one of our most confidential sponsors and you decide to break open my confidential mail just to satisfy your curiosity. Little madam you are but you're not allowed to do that."

She drew back and gave her most poisonous look. "Are you callin' me a slapper?" Oh heaven spare us! Give the wee girl a dictionary and ask her to look up common sense. Her picture is obviously not there. I grabbed the laptop and the note from Daniel. I set it on my desk and stared her down. Calmly I advised her to leave. She looked back at me with all her spite. "Ya know Aileen you won't last much longer here. I'm certain of it." Her words drifted along the corridor and bounced around my head for the rest of the evening. My next action was to call Gavin and fill him in. Right now I needed to hear his voice more than hers.

About three hours later just before closing, I found that I was sitting in my boss's office. Sarah Pierce was a hard task master but a fair boss. When I came in and sat down her face was grave and concerned. "Aileen, I have just been visited by Tamara Knight. She has accused you of sectarian intimidation." I sucked in a breath and closed my eyes. This was it. This could be the time Tamara finally opened the door to get me booted out of my job. I couldn't afford to lose this job for Danny's sake as well as my own. Sarah continued. "She states that after waiting to drop off a package at your desk you intimidated her using sectarian language. She also claims you called her a prostitute."

My eyes widened and suddenly I found my voice. "Sarah that's not true! You know my stance on sectarianism. I hate it! Gavin and I both volunteer with cross community groups going out to America at least once a year. When this occurred, I found Tamara had opened confidential mail from one of our private benefactors and she had read the information attached to it. She had breached the rules of confidentiality and she knew it. Please Sarah, I would not do that. Admittedly, I called her a wee madam but that is all."

Sarah sighed and shook her head. "Unfortunately this accusation is too serious to ignore. If Tamara goes to the press with this we could lose the badly needed good PR and not even your link with some of our most generous benefactors could help save your job. I'm sorry Aileen but you are suspended until we look into this." I think I lost my voice at this stage and I felt the tears prick my eyes. I could not afford to mess around with this job. It was both my cover and my main point of research for Daniel. This was serious and I knew it. Politics was not going to lose me my job. Sarah spoke again. "I am sorry Aileen but I'm going to have to ask you to leave the museum until this matter has been sorted out."

As I left Sarah's office I felt numb. I was marched directly to my office to collect my things and watched carefully by Eamon Greer the security guard. He escorted me to my office and watched as I packed up my backpack with the new laptop safely ensconced inside. I'd get Gavin to break in later and grab the info just after the night shift came on. This included the scroll that I'd managed to lock away in the drawer next to my laptop.

This investigation could cost me my job and I knew it. Sectarianism is the worst form of discrimination alive. It is as insidious as it is poisonous. Back in the day people discriminated just because you were either protestant or catholic and employers used to favour their own religious background. It's mostly a thing of the past in general but it does still happen. My parents were both and that has never bothered me. So the accusation was just enough to get me out of there. I didn't know why she had chosen me to bully but I wasn't going to back down. I needed to get either Daniel or Jack involved but the real question was – with the system lords at each other's throats would they be bothered to help little ol' me?


End file.
